Unrequested handicap rooms

[canda]

I thought every room was a handicapped accessible at Disney. every room we have ever stayed in, it was accessible. I just thought it was the norm.

 

[BobH]

I guess I have been around too long but the so called 3hr fire resistance of a stairwell exit is achievable only if someone doesn't prop a door open on a lower floor. As long as the human factor can influence the fire safety of a building feature - don't kid yourself - their is no perfect system for fire safety that a human being cannot defeat. Building Sprinklers are the best protection feature but even they can be turned off intentionally or for repairs. You also should not rely on the local fire department to be adequately staffed to evacuate everyone within the first few minutes of the fire. Local departments do they best they possibly can, often with less than optimum staffing. National Fire Protection staffing recommendations are not followed by all communities. Use common sense and locate your loved ones on the first floor if they have a physical handicap.
Academic discussions on the subject of well engineered buildings are helpful, untill you have to deal with a real emergency in an occupancy with an set of unexpected and uncontrolled variables. My apologies - I'll step down from the soap box now.

 

[Jecca]

To backtrack just a bit, according to fire standards, a hotel is able to have accessible rooms as high as the eighth floor. Apparently, a fire truck ladder can reach that high and a fireman would carry the disabled person out a window and down the ladder. Anything higher than the eighth floor is supposed to be illegal. However, as a person who uses a wheelchair for mobility, I can tell you that I've stayed in "wheelchair accessible" rooms above the eighth floor, so I know many hotels don't comply.
At Disney, I tend not to request a wheelchair accessible room as I'm more inconvenienced by having water everywhere and having no counter space than I am by having a bathroom I can't quite fit my chair into.